The Blog

We are excited to welcome our next guest to the Hive Life podcast, Danny Decker.

Danny is a speaker, author, marketer, and entrepreneur. He co-founded Spotlight Branding, a company focusing on helping lawyers better market their law firms. Recently, he sold his portion of the company to his partner.

In this episode, we dive into a Q&A session with Danny who enthusiastically shares his marketing expertise. Whether it’s through video, social media, or e-newsletters, you are bound to grab a few key takeaways from our conversation.

Listen to the full discussion below or click here to download on iTunes!

Spiracle Media is excited to announce we have been featured as a leading creative agency in Clutch’s 2018 Global Awards! The B2B ratings & reviews platform released its annual awards listings of the top service providers across the world.

As an award-winning full-service video content agency located in Charlotte, North Carolina. We have nearly 10 years of experience, creating beautiful, unique, and engaging content for partners all across the US. We produce high-quality projects for a range of small and large companies.

We love to tell our partner’s stories in a way that gains their audience’s trust and respect. Our creativity combined with our customer service earned us a spot as a leader in the 2018 Top Global Agencies on Clutch.co.

Earlier this year, we announced our inclusion as a top video production agency in Charlotte, and now we’re psyched to be featured globally among top video production agencies.

“Since they joined the platform in mid-2018, we’ve been consistently impressed by their past work and by what they’re clients have had to say,” said Clutch analyst, Katie Wonders. “Spiracle has consistently demonstrated their ability to create impactful creative work for their clients.”

Want to learn more about what we do? Check out our work, and our featured portfolio on the Manifest, Clutch’s sister-site dedicated to creating a comprehensive B2B buyers’ guide.

Thanks to all those who’ve taken the time to review our work, and here’s to an even bigger and better 2019!

Winners are determined by dollar and percentage growth in revenue during a three-year period. The annual Fast 50 award recognizes 50 companies in the Charlotte region with outstanding growth, entrepreneurial and leadership qualities.

“I continue to be amazed at what Spiracle Media has accomplished. It’s a testament to our partners, team members and our dedication to treating people the right way,” says Jarod Latch, Co-Founder and Director of Creative Content, “Joining other deserving businesses on the Fast 50 serves as motivation and encourages hopeful anticipation for what’s to come.”

“We’ve spent the past 8 years growing our business as Charlotte’s Storytellers, now to be on a list with such amazing companies, we are honored,” says Tim Baier, Co-Founder and Director of Business Development, “Growth has been important, but growth the right way has been the goal. We are extremely excited for the future.”

Spiracle Media was founded in 2011 by co-founders Tim Baier and Jarod Latch. Since day one, we have been telling stories that support the voice of our partners. We wouldn’t be here without our loyal partners and talented, award-winning team.

The final rankings will be revealed at an awards ceremony on December 6, 2018. Stay tuned to see where we stand.

Spiracle Media is thrilled to announce we’ve been selected as the No. 2 Best Place to Work by the Charlotte Business Journal. Nominated in the Small Business category, among 20+ other outstanding Charlotte companies.

The Charlotte Business Journal’s Best Places to Work Awards recognize companies whose benefits, policies and practices are the best in the region.

“We’ve won many awards over the years, but this might be one of the most important ones yet,” says Tim Baier, co-founder and Director of Business Development, “We set the goal of creating a strong work-life balance to allows our team to produce high-quality storytelling and that’s what has happened. We value our team and our partners as relationships drive success.”

We are proud to be recognized for this award because it’s based solely on employee feedback. Our team completed surveys to share what it’s really like to work at Spiracle. From the company culture, employee benefits and work-life balance, Spiracle Media stood out among other local businesses.

Jarod Latch, Co-Founder and Director of Creative Content said it best, “The creation of a positive environment where everyone supports, grows and works together has always been a top priority. From day one, we wanted to cultivate a culture that combined opportunity with quality of life. That’s something we must always maintain.”

A few Spiracle employees enjoying the Best Places to Work event at Top Golf.

We have worked with Queens University to create compelling, impactful storytelling pieces for their university over the last several years. Spiracle works hand in hand with the marketing and communications team to produce video content for events, fundraising initiatives, and marketing campaigns.

Every year we deliver a feature for the annual Royal Society event. This event celebrates the donors who contribute to providing hundreds of students with the opportunity to attend Queens University. We always enjoy producing content for this celebration. This year was no exception.

When our team heard Gretchen’s story, we were immediately moved to dive deeper into who she is. Gretchen is such an inspiring individual who not only left an impact on the students and faculty at Queens but also with us at Spiracle Media.

The Idea

Our creative team, led by David Kernodle, pitched a style and tone that was intended to impact the audience with emotion. The goal was to showcase the struggle Gretchen goes through in everyday life and how that struggle has paved a way to her future success.

The Execution

During pre-production, our team interviewed Gretchen and really got to know her life’s journey in more detail. This set us up for success in the production process. Often people forget how important the steps are before the project begins. We knew after we spoke with Gretchen the creative path to take. Watch the Royal Society feature below.

In Episode 6 of the Hive Life, we welcome Thomas Wilson into the studio to talk drones. Thomas is the Director of Drone Operations at Aerial Buzz, powered by Spiracle Media. His enthusiasm for all things drone is contagious and makes you want to learn more.

Did you know that extensive safety regulations come with flying a drone? The FAA has cracked down in recent years, due to the popularity of both personal and professional drone use. There is a lot of background work that goes into getting those beautiful aerial shots, from getting a professional license to securing the air space you’re allowed to occupy.

Thomas also talks about some of his favorite projects since becoming a part of the Spiracle Media team. The most recent project was with the YMCA of Greater Charlotte. Thomas spent time at Lake Norman, capturing action shots of the adaptive water skiing program. He captured a beautiful photo of the sunset (below).

We are at the halfway mark in our Building Charlotte series. We hope you, as our audience, have enjoyed it as much as we have in making the series.

In Episode 4, the house continues to add to its character both inside-and-out. The outside gets a fresh wrap, while the inside gets all the hardwood it can handle. Pike Properties worked with James Hardie on the siding of the home.

In construction, delays are a reality and they begin to show their ugly head in this installment of Building Charlotte. Watch the drama unfold in the latest episode!

“We put more into a house because I don’t like stamping out something that’s the same every time,” says Matt Connolly , Co-Founder of Pike Properties and the show’s co-host. “It’s a nice feeling to think about the impact we make on the community by doing something we love.”

The webisode series pledges to give viewers a behind-the-scenes seat to the building of a 6,000 square foot Cotswold home. That means viewers will experience the highs and lows of everything from design and demo to insurance, sheetrock and siding.

“Building Charlotte is a soup to nuts look at the process of building a Pike Property house,” says Jarod Latch , Co-Founder and Director of Creative Content at Spiracle Media. “We like to say it’s HGTV mixed with a dose of reality to what actually goes into building a home here. We’ve always been fans of seeing finished products, but getting a real look at what it takes to build a home from scratch pulls back the curtain like never before.”

On why the guys of Pike Properties decided to to create a web series with Spiracle Media, Co-Founder Anthony Moore said “ In our opinion the future of media is already here and it’s on the web. Print, TV, and radio doesn’t seem to have the lastability that a web series can have. It’s also a very unique way to showcase the process of building and the unknowns that go along with it. Sharing what we do on a daily basis on a global platform is really exciting for us.”

To Tim Baier, Co-Founder of Spiracle Media, the decision to partner with Pike Properties came naturally as he stated “when you walk into a Pike Properties home, you immediately feel like it could be your home.” He also went on to say that “the attention to detail and the creative use of space really sets these guys apart from other builders in the market. When we met Matt and Anthony, we knew telling their story would be so valuable for the Charlotte market. They’re two entrepreneurs that have put in the work to make a reputable company that is changing the communities they work in.”

Creativity is a recurring part of the conversation when it comes to video content and partner relationships. There are quite a few questions you’ll face when looking to get “creative”.

Begin by doing your own research, grab inspiration from others and most importantly brainstorm with your creative team. Answer these basic questions that will get the ball rolling when creating a video concept.

What is the core message you want to convey?

Who is your audience?

What concepts make sense and how to apply them?

Our team tackles these questions from what they have learned from past experiences and what keeps them moving forward.

Since 2011, we’ve combined our journalist background with our production experience to create impactful videos for our partners. We love telling stories, and are proud of the work we’ve done to help our partners leverage their marketing and other business needs.

The only thing we love more than storytelling are the relationships we’ve built with our partners, especially those that also call Charlotte and North Carolina their home! From Wake Forest University to the YMCA of Charlotte, we’ve had the pleasure of working with locals to spread their message through the art of video.

This year we joined the Clutch community online. The DC-based B2B ratings & reviews platform conducts 3rd-party verified client interviews, which in combination with their analysts’ marketing research, are used to determine who the leading service providers are across the globe.

You can read our full reviews on our profile, and check out some highlights below:

“Spiracle Media listens and then creatively help you exceed your goals — they go above and beyond to capture the shot.” – Marketing Executive VP of ECS Limited

“We can really count on them for their creativity. They truly deliver when it comes to telling a story in an unexpected way. Whenever we work with them, I feel we are going to get a video that will elicit viewers’ emotions—whether it’s laughing or crying. Storytelling is absolutely their strong suit.” – Exec. Director of Marketing & Comm. of Queens University of Charlotte

Lights, camera, construction! We are excited about the special edition of the Hive Life podcast taking you behind-the-scenes of the seven episode series with Pike Properties.

Two Charlotte-born companies are documenting the homebuilding process in Charlotte with an HGTV-like look at all of the action. From acquisition and demo, to construction and staging, Pike Properties and Spiracle Media are showcasing the process from start to finish. The whole experience has been amazing and we can’t wait to share it with everyone.

We are just one week away from the release of the Building Charlotte webisode series. The first of seven episodes that will begin airing on Tuesday, September 4th.